Conventional semiconductor memories typically use access buffers, such as a write buffer and a read buffer, for exchanging data between an interface and a memory array. Flash memory devices, for example, ordinarily use one buffer for writing to Flash memory cells and another buffer for reading therefrom. These buffers are usually sized to accommodate common addressable units of memory, such as a sector or a byte of data. In mass storage applications, Flash memory devices include NAND-type interfaces that serialize, at least in part, address and data onto a common bus. Further, Flash-based memories in mass storage applications typically use a state machine to manage executions of commands. While write and read buffers for conventional memories are functional, they have limitations. Some of these limitations are linked, at least to some degree, to the underlying semiconductor memory technology, such as Flash memory technology.
There are continuing efforts to improve technology for accessing memory.